Mass Effect: The Civil War
by Da-Bard
Summary: The story is finally complete. 20 years after ME3, the galaxy is thrown into a massive civil war, with Shepards friends on all sides. Old rivals return and new alliances are made to take down the universes true enemy, the company, new Ashley story soon
1. ACT 1

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Prologue_

He never expected all this shit.

A man: tall, fair skinned, wearing a black and dark-green battle suit ran into the many explosions of war. Grenades flew to his right side, so with amazing panic, he dropped to the floor and prepared for the worst. Unfortunately, death escaped him once more as he felt only a slight shock wave cross his body. As he stood up, he raised his arm to his closest nearby enemy. The turian he was facing down simply began to laugh at the sight of his human opponent forming a false gun with his hand. The laughter turned to confusion when the human pointed his imaginary gun straight at the turian's torso.

"BOOM" said the human with confidence, and then with a sudden jolt, the turian felt a cold icy spear hit his chest. The human was simply playing with his opponents, shooting them with his chrono-freezer located in his Omni-tool.

With a now completely frozen turian standing before him, the human turned to view the rest of the battle field. He had genetically heightened eye sight due to his training as an army sentinel. This eye sight would only do him good one more time during this battle, because in the distance he saw only one thing, the barrel of a sniper staring him down. He did not feel, hear, or see anything after that. He could only fall to the ground knowing he was shot. Finally his time had come. Finally he and death would have their last battle.

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 1: Gambling_

It was all sunshine and rainbows from here.

Commander R. Shepard of the U.S.S Normandy was finally happy. It had been 20 years since the end of the war with the Reapers (And all the events that will take place in ME3). Shepard hated the war, for it slowly killed his spirit from the inside-out, and it literally killed him once. It also had long term effects on his personality. Pre-Reapers, Shepard was a smart-ass, fun loving, adventure seeking, normal young man. But the second he had decided to try to find his fortune in the army, his whole life changed. He was picked to be a part of the Sentinel program. In this program, soldiers were given Biotic Implants, Omni-tool Implants, artificial adrenaline infusions, and rigorous specialized training. He originally served as a Tank crewman, before he was chosen to become a specter. As a specter he killed thousands, saved millions, and served the galaxies most unforgiving organizations (Citadel Council and Cerberus). He lost more friends on his missions than any one man should lose in a lifetime.

But that time was over, Shepard was almost 50 years old now, and he was a stern, cocky old man. He never married after he drove away the love of his life, and he hasn't spoken to his best friend in years. What would a man like this do for the rest of his life? Join politics of course! Shepard ran for the newly opened position of Council Member on the one and only Citadel Council. His victory was a landslide. Thousands of people could not wait to see the great and powerful Commander Shepard, who once defended the galaxy, become Councilor Shepard, the enforcer of the galaxy's laws. Shepard had few enemies in the galaxy, either because they had come to love him, or they had already been gunned down by his pistol. To celebrate his joining of the galactic council, Shepard was going to reunite with his oldest and best friends in the entire world, at a club on Earth's moon.

"Welcome Councilor Shepard, your friends are waiting for you at the bar," announced the hostess upon seeing him enter the establishment.

"Thanks miss, I hope they will be happy to see me, I haven't talked to some of them in years," replied Shepard.

"Oh I think they will, you are the great Shepard after all," she said with a cute smile, as she eyed him from head to toe. Although Shepard was technically quite over the hill as far as age is concerned, he appeared to look no less than 20. Due to modern medicine, the human physic changed quite abit since 2010. Shepard was never a bad looking man, and the slight graying of his hair and numerous amounts of scars just gave him a touch of the bad-ass factor.

Shepard took caution when walking to his table, for he could now see all of his friends, changed by time, as he looked across the room. Urndot Wrex was holding Krogen Blood Whiskey and a pistol in his hand as always, Kasumi Goto and Samara the asari Justicar spoke about wither or not stealing is "frowned upon", and finally sitting at the end of the table was Garrus Valkerian and Ashley Williams.

"SHEPARD, YOU RETURN AT LAST!" yelled the drunken Wrex when he noticed Shepard.

"Wrex! Come in for the real deal!" yelled Shepard in reply. The others questioned exactly what was about to happen as Wrex ran up to Shepard ready to embrace him. Just as it appeared that two of the toughest men in the galaxy had begun hugging, Wrex then took Shepard down to the ground and the two began wrestling in the middle of the night club.

"Oh my god, this is embarrassing," said Ashley with a look of disgust.

Shepard, as if on cue, performed a ducking role, and got on top of Wrex. Shepard then got to his feet, helped his Krogen friend off the ground, and the two shared a laugh before he turned to look at Ashley.

"I see someone has been having that same period for, oh what has it been? 15 years now?" Shepard said, receiving a small chuckle from Wrex and Kasumi.

"Hey you two, let's keep this civilized. This isn't a time for fighting, we've done enough of that in our lives, and it's time to celebrate! All hail councilor Shepard right! Drinks on me!" yelled Garrus who always knew how to keep the peace on the team.

Shepard gave a sigh of relief, he was finally home. He thought that he would never be able to go out and have fun with his friends ever again, but this turned out to be the best night of life. After an hour of drinking with Wrex and talking politics with Garrus and Samara, Shepard decided to see where his other companions, Kasumi and Ashley, had gone to. With a quick glance around the room, he saw the backs of a black robed figure standing next to a dark-haired woman wearing an elegant yet provocative purple dress near the gambling pits.

"Targets acquired, and engage," Shepard murmured to himself.

"So Ashley, are you having fun yet?" asked the mysterious hooded wonder Kasumi.

"I don't know it's hard to have fun when HE is around." replied Ashley.

"Who? Shepard? How could you break up with him in the first place, he's funny as hell, and does some crazy shit," asked Kasumi now relaxed as can be.

"Shepard was different when the war was going on, he was serious, responsible, and in shape! Now he's annoying, irresponsible, and doesn't know when to be appropriate, not to mention he kinda let himself go… Both Garrus and I agree he needs to grow up if he's going to be on the Council,"

"Hello ladies, trying to win your fortunes?" Said Shepard, trying to creep in on the conversation.

"Well, 'Councilor', I'm trying to get miss solider here to loosen up a bit," Kasumi replied sounding pretty flirtatious, partially to get Ashley to show some emotion, and partially because she was indeed hitting on Shepard.

"Well Kas, I've tried that a million times, and nothing really works… unless this place serves margaritas,"

"Excuse me Shepard, but I know how to have fun," Ashley then looked around the gambling pits to see if anything would support her cause.

"If you're looking to gamble may I suggest a little Bartarian Pirate Poker?" asked Shepard.

"Oh, I love that game! Let's go Ashley!" jumped Kasumi.

Bartarian Pirate Poker was no kid's game. This form of the classic game was created by a bunch of space pirates to pass the time when the only materials that they had were cards, guns, and warm liquor. The basic rules require every participant to have a gun set to "stun" and have five cards, and five shots of whatever drink they choose. It works just like 5-card Draw poker, except instead of betting money, they bet the liquor, or a shot from the low-voltage stun. The loser is the one that goes home drunk and paralyzed. Now Ashley had no desire to play such a disturbing game, but she couldn't back down in front of Kasumi, and refused to look weak to Shepard.

"All right, let's do this," said an eager Ashley.

_Twenty minutes later…_

Kasumi managed to get out of the game quick because she was disqualified when she got caught cheating by Ashley. Shepard had only had two drinks, and zero tazer shots so far, but Ashley had just used up her last drink. She knew she would lose to Shepard because he had superior gambling skill to her own.

"Well, you're out of booze, want to be done?" Shepard asked Ashley, almost taunting her to continue.

"No way, I've got a pair of nines, how about you?"

"Ha, you got me, I didn't have shit," replied Shepard, he then proceeded to down a shot.

"Hmm, now that I think we've all had enough alcohol I say we do something fun!" said Kasumi

"Alright, a situation like this defiantly calls for us to blow something up!" Replied Shepard excitingly.

"That sounds fun! Ashley are you in?" asked Kasumi, hoping Ash had consumed enough alcohol to loosen up.

"No way, someone is going to get hurt, or in jail, I refuse," Ashley went back to giving Shepard that disgusted look, then walked away, and tried to find Garrus.

"Alright, more fun for us then Shepard, I'll meet you outside and we'll see what fun is to be had," said Kasumi as she walked to the door.

Shepard wasted no time in telling Wrex and the others that he would be stepping outside for a moment, and then he ran off to find Kasumi.

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 1.5: The Mercenary with no name_

Do you know what it takes to be the world's greatest assassin?

Most people don't. The universe has had many assassins. Some are nothing but hired guns, in it for the money, the pride, and the glory. Others master the art of the kill in order to complete a vendetta, bring justice, or murder their hated enemies. A great assassin always has something driving them, but what happens when the thing driving them is one sole cause. On the dying planet of Erred-X one power hungry company discovered a way to create the perfect killer. They take children, unwanted by society, and they teach them the coveted art of killing. But the catch to this company is that they teach every child to only kill one man. After your mission is complete, you die.

As far as any other sentient being was concerned, he had no name, no defining features under his plain black mask, and no records of his existence. The only thing he did have was a body sculpted by 20 years of training to defeat one man, Councilor R. Shepard. He knew everything about Shepard, from his favorite battle techniques, to what he ate for breakfast this morning. The assassin had nothing in his life but his goal to kill Shepard, and of course a secret special weapon that his employers requested he use. And after it's all over, a tiny sensor in his brain will put him to his thoughtless sleep for the last time.

EST: 11:30

Location: Lunar Rest Night Club

Mission Status: START

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 2: Strike the Heart_

It always happened to her.

Ashley Williams could not believe this was happening. Shepard was leaving his own party, filled with all of his friends, to have a little "fun" with Kasumi. The human race must have fallen pretty far to elect Shepard to its coveted Council seat. In moments like this, Ashley always turned to her voice of reason, Garrus. During the Reaper Wars, when she and Garrus first met, she didn't like him very much, but over time Ashley watched as Garrus went from C-Spec failure to a proud Lieutenant serving under Shepard. When the war, and her relationship with Shepard, ended she had turned to Garrus for advice. It turned out he was a great listener, and was a dedicated soldier to his new position, Fleet Admiral of the turian armada. Garrus had become everything Ashley used to think Shepard was, and in truth, she had slightly fallen for him. Of course she would never let him know that, it would ruin everything they currently had going.

"Garrus I strongly suggest you talk to Shepard about his actions," said Ashley

"Ash, I think you are overeating, I know you don't have the greatest memories of Shepard in your head right now, but he really isn't that bad, he is trying to live a happy life, maybe you should do the same," suggested Garrus.

Ashley knew exactly what he was saying, and knew he was right, yet she refused to believe that she was letting Shepard have a good time while she dwelled over him. She decided to go find Wrex and ask him for some of his whiskey.

_Like a bird thru a window he watched…_

Where the hell could Shepard be? He had examined the room carefully for his target, but Shepard was no-where to be found. In the history of the company this has never happened, everything always went according to plan! The assassin had never felt a single emotion in his life, yet as he stared at the auto-targeting scope on his new biological RPG, courtesy of his mysterious employer, he felt his nerves taking over his body. At that moment he did something he was not trained to do, he freaked out.

"RRAAHHH, Shepard will die! He must be in there! WHY ME!" the assassin then set his targeting scope to find multiple targets, and he fired upon everyone in the room. It would only be moments until everyone was dead, and his mission would be complete, As Shepard fell dead, he would as well.

_The pieces fall into place, only to be shattered once more…_

Garrus looked out of the corner of his eye to see Ashley humiliate herself in front of a drunken Krogen. Garrus new first hand that if you value your life, never ask a Krogen for some of his drink. Things would be going just the way Garrus wanted them to, if only he could get over this strange feeling that something terrible was about to happen. Maybe it was the fact that he had felt pain so many times that he now had a sense that told him it was coming, but just as he felt a shiver down his turian spine, the sound of broken glass filled his ears. Two shrieks later Garrus decided that this wasn't just some loser on an alcohol induced rampage. They were all in danger.

"Ashley get everyone out of here now!" yelled Garrus while pulling out a SMG from his oriental Sergeant uniform.

"What's going on?" asked Ashley in confusion. Chaos ensued as three steel canisters dropped in from the now broken window. The sound of gas leaking into the air from these dreaded canisters informed Garrus that it was already too late for the people of this room. They were all doomed.

_A weapon with a vendetta…_

Everyone in the club fell to the floor coughing in anguish. Garrus was far enough away from the canisters that he did not feel the effects of the invisible gas right away. He knew that someone had to put those canisters in that room. Garrus ran towards the window with the speed of a raptor searching for its prey. Without getting in sight of the window Garrus pointed the barrel of his SMG at the correct geometrical angle in which the assassin would have had to be at to launch those canisters. He fired a round of bullets into the air and only stopped after hearing the cry of pain from a male, presumably human around age 20, but because of the lack of octave in his voice Garrus could not be sure.

Damn, he loved being a turian. His heightened intelligence and senses made it almost unfair to fight him. But being over confident got Garrus nowhere because within seconds he had joined the others in a deep dark sleep.

_A life wasted…_

How had it all failed so miserably? Nothing the company ever did failed, yet here he was. Wounded by gun fire, but not dead. Why didn't he die? Surely Shepard must have been killed! None the less, emotions of all kinds filled the assassin's head. He had to run from this place. If he was going to be a failure for the rest of his life, he would do it by his own choice. He was free from the company, now only a slave to his emotions. But his original programming still remained. He would kill Shepard.

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 2.5: Saving Grace_

Hours had passed, and it had only begun.

Kasumi and Shepard sure did know how to have fun and abuse their abilities. After hours of using stealth generators to vandalize statues, chrono-freezing fire hydrants to watch them explode, and watching explosions as they combined plasma bullets with alcohol. Now as the night grew quiet, the two adventurers laid down to watch the stars.

"Councilor? "

"What's up Kasumi?" responded Shepard.

"You must understand that I have not enjoyed myself this much with a man since my partner died all those years ago… and I don't want this to end, and I happen to have a safe house on this planet, I was wondering if…" Kasumi didn't want to continue talking, and luckily she didn't have to.

"If you are sure we aren't, you know, taking this too fast then… I don't see why not. But why leave when we can stay right here. On the countryside… It's so crazy, on Earth stars are nothing but, little lights in the sky. Just little glimmers of hope that something or someone else is out there in the galaxy, but here, they all feel so close, so reachable. It's like…" Shepard didn't get the chance to finish his sentence. Kasumi's lips were upon him within seconds and they never pulled away. As if for only a split second, everything in the universe was at peace.

But unfortunately for the distraught lovers, only the opposite was true.

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 3: Jury Duty_

Nobody could really understand what his job was like.

Shepard stood in the council room, alert and ready for what would be the hardest day of his life. He had awoken that morning on the lunar countryside, half-naked and alone. He wondered what the galactic agents sent to find him thought of their new boss, finding him in the state he was in. But Shepard's worry became anger when these same agents informed him of a tragic attack that hospitalized everyone in the club last night. He should have been there to stop it, but instead he was out being an idiot.

"This Galactic Citadel Council calls forth Garrus Valkerian to the witness stand, "the room fell silent as Shepard looked to his side to view who was talking. There were three other members on the Citadel Council, all representing Council races: The Asari, Turians, and the Salarians. When a galactic court case such as this takes place, the Turian rep, Sion Dregeden, becomes supreme judge.

"Your honor, I already presented everything I know. We were attacked with a biological weapon, which disintegrated upon firing, leaving no evidence. I managed to wound the assassin n before he escaped, but his blood at the scene of the crime matches no known being in Citadel space," Garrus was nothing but serious when speaking of the events of that night. He took his final moments in his presentation to glare at Shepard. The two ex-teammates shared a link through this glance that nobody else would ever understand. A feeling of regret filled both of their minds.

Shepard knew he had to further this case, "Dregeden, I think we have picked Mr. Valkerian's brain thoroughly. I suggest we call forward Dr. Liara T'sione to hear what she found in the bodies of the victims,"

Liara was an old friend of Shepards, but unfortunately their different life-styles made their friendship dissolve over the course of time.

"The gas in the canisters was unlike anything I had ever seen, it is odorless and lacks and form of pigment. It is basically oxygen except with one added component. An unknown parasite that given the correct amount of time will drain its host of its life-force…"

Liara was suddenly interrupted by sounds of distress from the courtroom, it was normal considering half of the people in the room were present for the attack. Everyone fell silent as Liara continued her announcement.

"This parasite has a two-staged life cycle similar to that of the human parasite causes malaria. It tends to life and grow on species with low immune systems, such as the genophage affected Krogen, or the naturally weak Quarians. Bartarians, vorcha, and elcor also have a skin type that attracts the parasite. In its secondary stage, it wants to life in high water, energy producing beings, such as humans or asari, and possibly turians. The parasite is only found to be lethal in its secondary stage,"

The asari doctor's last words sent the crowd into uproar. Chairs were literally thrown from one side of the room to the other as the chaos ensued. Shepard knew it was no coincident that this parasite was used to attack him and his friends. Shepard removed his concealed pistol from his jacket, and fired it towards the ceiling several times, instantly silencing the room.

With all eyes on him, Shepard spoke, "Everyone calm down! The council will adjourn and find out what is the best plan of action for dealing with this epidemic,"

"There is no need for us to adjourn Shepard, this council already came to a decision this morning when you were found drunken and face down in a cornfield, we decided that, with every races best interest at heart, All races in which the parasite lives during its first life-cycle will be quarantined and cut off from citadel space. This plan goes into action immediately! "Yelled Dregeden, almost proud that he had just doomed millions to die.

Shepard had turned red-faced at the betrayal of his fellow council members. "This is an outrage! You can't do this Dregeden!" yelled Shepard.

"Shepard, let me handle this," said Wrex from the now silent crowd, "If you try to cut the Krogen from our food supply, you should know that we will do everything within our power to cut your head from you turian body!" as Wrex spoke he brought a feeling of adrenaline to the other now officially quarantined races.

Dregeden had only this in reply, "We thought of our decision greatly before putting it into place, if war is what it must come to, then we will gladly oblige,"

"So be it," said Wrex, now taking his posse of Krogen out of the courtroom, although he never said were he was going, Shepard knew he would return to Tuchanka, and rally the krogens for battle.

"Excuse me for saying this Dregeden, but you're an asshole, and personally if you do intend to murder almost half of the sentient being in this galaxy just to save your own turian ass then you've made an enemy more dangerous than any angry Krogen or hungry vorcha… you've made an enemy of me!" said Shepard as he stepped down from his councilor seat, and left the building, walking away like a total bad-ass.

Shepard didn't stop to talk to Garrus, Ashley or Samara on his way out, he knew they would remain loyal to the citadel and their respective races. He knew there was only one place he could go to and not feel betrayed, Shepard would go to Tuchanka.

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 3.5: Corruption Spreads Deep_

The room was filled with nothing but darkness.

And it would have remained that way too, if the sole turian in it hadn't turned on his communicator. Now a red light illuminated the darkness, but still didn't bring anymore hope or jot to the room. Then the turian began to speak.

"Master, everything went according to plan in the courtroom today," said the turian with nerves running thru his body.

The red light of the communicator responded to his words. Soon a deep voice with a hint of menace filled the turians ears. Just the sound of the voice filled his soul with an inescapable feeling of evil. "So everything went as fate determined eh? If so, then how do you explain the fact that Shepard still lives huh? THAT WE HAVE ONE OF OUR ASSASINS STILL RUNING ROUGE! As far as the company is concerned, our plan has taken a major detour, and the only way to bring it back on course, is to kill Shepard,"

"Yes my lord, I will not fail you," and with his sentence finished he shut off the communicator, leaving the room with darkness once more. Now Dregeden was all alone.

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 4: A Commander Once More_

The exhilarating feeling of war rushed over him once more.

For all the years that Shepard told himself that the war had ruined his life, and that he never wanted to see battle ever again, he sure was excited to be back in his battle armor. The room was literally filled with men in battle armor as for the first time, the battle masters once again met in the war room of Tuchanka.

"Shepard it's good to see you dressed and ready for combat once again, but I'm sorry to see that it had to be in this way…"

"It's alright Wrex, whatever the council is gonna get, is something they've had coming for a long time. Now, I personally believe the determination and battle skills of our Vorcha and bartarian companions is far superior to that of the citadels' infantry, I fear for our lack of technology," remarked Shepard.

Suddenly a bartarian in the room spoke in response to Shepard's worries. "Don't worry Commander, we bartarians are far ahead on any other race in the galaxy when it comes to weapons of war!" the bartarian said this with outstanding pride, for the bartarians have always been proud of their ability to think of ways to mass murder humans. "But unfortunately Commander, our head scientist is a little bit on the racist side, and he told my Lieutenant this morning that he refuses to serve under you,"

Wrex completely understood the feeling of the bartarian scientist, because for a long time Wrex also felt a great amount of bigotry towards humans. He thought them to be weak, there puny bodies not built for battle. He thought that within a few years they would all die out. Then he met Shepard and everything changed. Shepard was a greater fighter than any krogan battlemaster Wrex had ever met. Now the feels that once clouded Wrex's mind no longer exist.

"You tell this "scientist" of yours that if he doesn't want to take orders from Shepard that he will have to deal with me," Wrex said making a fist with his hand.

"No Wrex, if I'm going to lead this hoarde I'm going to have to follow the customs of the hoarde. Bring me to the head scientist's chambers,"

_One Hour later_

A bartarian's anger is something to fear, and Romat Bar 'Sap was one angry bartarian.

"I told you Urndot, I refuse to work for this Watersack excuse for a life form. I would rather die than serve a human!" said Romat, the greatest mind in weapons since the age of the Protheans.

Shepard had been around Wrex long enough that he knew how the chain of command worked on Tuchanka. " Alright then Romat, I challenge you to an honor dual, if I beat you, you build my weapons as instructed, if you beat me, I will step down as Commander and go back to the citadel with my tail between my legs," replied Shepard

"Hahaha, fine Shepard I accept your challenge, and because you challenged me I get to chose my weapon first, and I choose this!" Romat reached under his desk and pulled out what resembled a small rocket launcher. What it really was, was a Sonic Mass Shredder, in other words, a gun that travels via air waves, and can slice through anything that takes up space. Shepard simply smirked after seeing the bartarians weapon choice.

"Fine, then I chose this," Shepard then reached for his ammunition belt, and pulled out a one foot baton. At the push of a button, the baton soon grew a 4 foot steel blade, producing a finely crafted vibrosword. This time it was the bartarian's turn to laugh, because he felt sure he had this battle won.

Hoarde Honor duals on Tuchanka were always held the Bloodmaster arena, just outside of the war room. This arena was 30 feet by 30 feet, giving it participants just enough room for strategy, but not to run from their opponents. Shepard and Ramat now stood on opposite sides of this arena, facing each other, staring each other down.

"Welcome everyone to the Bloodmaster arena, it is not often these days that we have the opportunity to watch such a heated battle as the one we are going to see today! Riley Shepard, Captain of TWO Normandys, and ex-Specter of the citadel council, against Ramat, the greatest scientist this side of the galaxy! Each participant has chosen his own weapon and what he has placed on the line! And now! Let the dual begin!" yelled Wrex completely overjoyed, because for the Krogen honor duals are a #1 pass-time.

The battle seemed to be going in fast-motion for the rusty commander Shepard. He looked as Romat unhiltered his fancy new weapon and aimed it directly at Shepard. In a matter of milliseconds the bartarian had already pulled the trigger and hit his target. Dust from the ground of the arena had been swept into the air as the sonic waves traveled through the air. All of the arena's spectators were in awe at what they thought was the quick loss of Commander Shepard. But, when the dust cleared Shepard was simply standing up, like he had been hit by merely a BB gun. Romat couldn't believe his eyes, his almighty Matter destroying weapon that he had spent years perfecting should have instantly killed Shepard, yet he shrugged off the blow like it was nothing.

Shepard let a crooked smile come across his face, because he had a secret that nobody else in the arena knew. At the beginning of every battle Shepard had fought since the day he became a sentinel he had always had a secret weapon. His Power Shield. The Power Shield was a holographic projection emitted from his Omni-tool, which protected his entire body from harm. This was the key to much of Shepard's success on the battle field. In his current situation, Shepard had luck on his side, because the SMS could only destroy things that have mass, and a hologram doesn't have mass, thus deflecting the attack altogether.

Romat braced himself for the wild human running at him, Vibroblade gleaming in the light. Fear is not something a bartarian felt often, but once Shepard held the blade to his neck he knew he was done. He had lost his honor dual.

Shepard had few words to say to his opponent, " Its over Romat, now the time for games is over, you have some weapons to make," and that was the last time any bartarian complained about serving a human.


	2. ACT 2

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 5: First Blood_

They had planned for this day for two months, it was time.

Commander Shepard had not shaved, eaten, or slept in nearly three days. When he decided to lead a band of misfit, parasite-infected aliens back into the citadel by force he never expected all this. As commander of the Rebel Hoarde, Shepard had to help Wrex make battle plans, assist Ramat in designing new weapons, and train some of his "less intelligent" Vorcha troops how to properly fight. Yes, the struggle of preparation had been harsh on Shepard these last two months, but finally, today would be the day they first struck the citadel head-on.

The warship _Nexus Brood, _or Bloody Death in Latin, was slowly approaching the citadel with 3,000 other batarian and krogan warships waiting in the distance, so they were not easily spotted. Shepard, with the help of Urndot Wrex, had calculated ever scenario possible when thinking about the on-coming battle. Now as they headed straight for the citadel capital (and the Turian Armada guarding it) they felt sure that they would come out on top today.

"Alright Commander we are in position," said Shepard's new personal navigator, a krogan by the name of Grunt.

Shepard braced himself, "All right, let them know we are here, launch the homing missiles on the flagship!"

Most of the crew members aboard the _Nexus Brood _thought Shepard's battle plan was pretty sound, except this part. The flagship of the turian armada was almost the size of Earth's southern hemisphere, and the _Nexus Brood_ was only slightly larger than a double-decker jumbo jet.

Grunt reluctantly replied "As you command Shepard…" then after locking the homing device, they fired. Several missiles collided with the side of the flagship, and there was an explosion large enough to take out a good portion of New York City, but if the flagship was a living being, this would have been nothing more than an annoying tickle. The crew of the _Nexus Brood _grew completely silent after seeing that they had done zero damage to the warship. Some even started to think about turning around and going home, but to Shepard things were just getting interesting.

Aboard the turian flagship _Purgatory, _nobody had even felt the rumble of the Krogen ships attack.

One turian officer decided the attack was something the ship's captain might want to know about.

"Admiral Valkerian, we just made contact with a small krogan ship that fired upon us minutes ago. They refused to make full communications; we await your orders to blast them out of the sky,"

Garrus was informed that the citadel's battle with the outer-rim species would be pathetic and completely one sided, but he never assumed it would be this easy.

"Hmm. They must be up to something, sending only one warship to face the greatest armada in the galaxy? Kill them fast, and make sure they don't try anything cheap," replied Garrus

The _Purgatory _began loading its weapon systems to fire back at the _Nexus Brood,_ a process that would take significant time. Shepard counted on this factor, and initiated the main step of his plan.

"Alright, launch the EMP bombs and missiles directly at the flagship's main computer systems area! Then call in the other warships and tell them to begin firing their EMPs," ordered Shepard. Shepard was surprised that this tactic had never been used in a space battle before today because it was truly brilliant. An EMP, or electromagnetic pulse, would completely shut-down electricity to the turian ship's main computers for almost 10 seconds. Then the turians would be forced to manually reboot the ship, turn on all the shields and weapon systems, and by that time they would already be destroyed. Shepard had talked to Garrus enough about turian model ships to know that they save fuel by using electricity to power most of their ships. Without electricity, the turian would be kissing their sweet armada right down the drain.

"AHHH!" Yelled the turian officer, "Admiral, they just launched high-powered EMP's at our ship! We are doomed!"

Garrus' eyes went blank, he looked like he had not only seen a ghost, but was assaulted by one. He knew only one man in the opposing army would hold the knowledge of using EMPs against turian ships. Commander Shepard.

Green lights filled the HUD of the _Nexus Brood's _view as they watched the flagship begin to fall out of space-sky. Soon the 3,000 remaining ships left their mass jump state, and launched THEIR EMPs at the remaining turian ships. Now it was only a sweet matter of time until the weapons of the battleships slowly eradicated their defenseless enemies.

Shepard's plan was not over though. "All right. Wrex, Grunt, and Romat follow me to the launching pad to help me suit up. It's time for step three!" said Shepard as he began walking to the launch pad.

"Commander, don't you think it's too soon to use the prototype suit? It is finished with its BETA stages of testing, but shouldn't we save it for another day?" asked Grunt.

Shepard had a quick reply "No Grunt, we only stunned our opponents for a short time, and we don't have the weapons to take out the entire armada before they pull their shit together. I need my suit,"

The prototype battle suit was one of the first things Dr. Romat and Shepard had designed together to help win the war. It almost exactly resembled Shepard's N7 battle suit (including the black color with Dark green secondary coloring) and his Death Mask helmet except 3x bigger and with jet packs for easily maneuvering in space. It was designed with extra armor strong enough to deflect battleship fire, and large weapons based on Romat's Sonic Slicers. The Slicer gun could easily be used to take out the engine of any ship, and they wouldn't even realize what hit them. The final touch to the battle suit was a giant Energy sword attached to the left arm. This would be used for taking out smaller targets in the space battle.

"Alright Commander, you're ready for launch," said Wrex

"Good, wish me luck," called Shepard as the jets of his suit launched him from the _Nexus Brood's_ hull.

Once Shepard had taken to the battle field, the fight became a massacre. Not one ship in the electromagnatized turian armada could stand up to the Sonic Slicers or the energy sword. Soon almost no turian ships were visible outside the citadel, only the small krogan warships and some fleeting escape pods, hoping to make it to Citadel Station.

Once Shepard knew that victory was clearly theirs, he turned on his radio, "Okay crew, we've done enough damage for one day, lets head back to Tuchanka and drink till our legs fall out from under us!" Before Shepard could turn off his radio, he heard the cheers of his thousands of soldiers getting ready to celebrate their huge win today. Man tonight was gonna be fun.

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 5.5: A One Sided War_

Dregeden finally returned to the citadel after being away on a "Business trip"

And boy was he sure in for a surprise when he found out that the Rebel Hoarde had been busy.

"You! Assistant! Bring me Valkerian! I want to know what the hell is going on!" yelled the furious turian

Seconds later Garrus was pushed into Dregeden's personal chambers for his debriefing.

"Well, Valkerian, this is the second time in two months you've been forced to tell me about the bad news, first it was about the parasites, what the hell is it this time!" exploded Dregeden.

"While you were away on your personal trip your highness, the turian armada was attacked by the Hoarde in which we lost nearly every one of our available ships, and only a twelfth of my men were recovered after the battle. Three weeks after that, rouge Hoarde raiding parties began showing up at our resource facilities on our outer-most planets. We determined that they are slowly making their way towards the main capital, and are hitting every major planet along the way. Each of these attacks has been lead by a man wearing a giant space suit that has been outfitted with extremely powerful weapons. We have reason to believe… that the man inside the suit… is Shepard," as Garrus said Shepard's name his voice slowly died down, and his head drooped towards the floor. He couldn't believe that everything was happening the way it was! He did not feel that Shepard had betrayed him, but he just couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that his old commander was now his greatest enemy. In fact, the only thing Garrus had to look forward to these days was his daily meetings with Ashley Williams. She was such a strong willed woman, and Garrus respected her more than anyone he had ever met before in his life (except Shepard). If only she was a turian…

Dregeden interrupted Garrus' thoughts with a loud, barked command. "Valkerian, I need you to find me a woman named Miranda Lawson, and bring her to me, and tell her to bring her research for Project Lazarus,"

"Understood your highness. I actually have a past with Miranda Lawson, and should be able to find her quickly,"

Garrus said he understood what Dregeden was asking, but in reality he was very confused. What would he need with the knowledge of how they brought Shepard back from the dead?

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 6: Nothing lasts Forever_

It was just another mission.

The job was simple, the cause was clear. By noon (Standard Earth time) the main resources office on the planet Zygreot would be destroyed and raided, and the planet's Element Zero supply would belong to the Rebel Hoarde. Shepard had opted to lead this mission, just like he did for the last 20 or so. The rush of war had returned to him, Shepard had shaken off the rust of 20 years worth of pacifism in an extremely short time. The missions were also getting easier as a leader. Many members of the Rebel Hoarde questioned Shepard's will to fight and kill, but now Wrex and the others were beginning to feel that he had become addicted to it, addicted to the adrenaline. Nobody complained of Shepard's new love of combat, because krogan, Vorcha, and bartarians all had the same problem. Shepard was now just a member of the family.

"God I hate standing here all day, it's not like anyone gives a shit about the people in that building. All they do is count numbers all day long; we soldiers do the real work in this galaxy!"

The citadel had become very cautious of its remaining resources since the enemy had made its first move. The resource building on Zygreot was not a main priority to the citadel; they had bigger fish to fry. It was only assigned two very reluctant guards. The first was a red haired, muscular, cocky man by the name of Kaleb. The second, Zack, didn't talk a lot, was just as muscular as Kaleb, and sported a large burn across his uncovered chest. This prompted Kaleb to call Zack Flamer Boy (obviously to mock him).

Kaleb began to continue his rant, "I mean we don't get paid well, we don't get food, and who knows, Shepard could show up any second and lay us on our asses! This whole war is bull! I'm going to go get a hotdog," as Kaleb finished his statement he began walking away.

Zack was quick to respond, "You idiot, you can't leave your post! Besides, this place is like a desert, there isn't any hotdogs,"

"I don't care!" then Kaleb kept walking. He only made it about 30 more steps before he saw a gyrocopter fly over head. He and Zack instantly raised their tactical shotguns because any sign of civilization on Zygreot was bad news. Soon the copter stood suspended above them in the air, and then zip lines started dropping from flying contraption. Within seconds, at least 30 soldiers of multiple different races covered the hotdog-less desert floor. The final krogan to fall was the battlemaster Urndot Wrex.

"ZACK! SHOOT!" yelled Kaleb. Both of human soldiers began firing their shotguns at their slightly unprepared enemies. Kaleb had eliminated almost half of the opposing soldiers in less than three seconds. Zack was not so lucky and was taken down by a fast drawn assault rifle from the hands of a racist bartarian. Kaleb continued his aim-shoot-kill strategy until he was halted by the powerful Wrex. Using his amazing charge ability Wrex had closed in on the human before his brain could register what was going on. Wrex pulled out pistol and launched his attack. Unfortunately for Kaleb, Wrex never even SHOT his pistol, choosing instead to take the brute force option. The barrel of the krogan made pistol crushed the face of Kaleb, breaking the front end of his skull causing what appeared to be an instant death.

"This is Urndot to _Nexus Brood, _the area is clear, but we suffered heavy losses. Only Grunt and I survived. Send down Shepard,"

"Hey. Krogan, over here," Wrex didn't know the origin of the voice he just heard. Then he looked down to what he believed was the dead human Kaleb.

"If you plan to enter that building… please kill all those bastards for me. Thanks," and with that, Kaleb finally faded away. The krogan battlemaster felt bad for the human, if the citadel army was treating its soldiers bad enough that he would struggle through a broken face just to speak of his disgust, then Wrex was glad he was fighting those imperialist bastards.

The Shepard controlled Space armor jetted into sight just seconds after the final solider died.

"Wrex, what's the status on the target," asked Shepard.

"Even the humans don't respect the scum working in that building, I suggest we don't waste time and just blow it sky high," replied Wrex.

"That can defiantly be arranged," Shepard raised his Sonic Slicers and aimed at the lone building. After the two-second start up time, sonic waves ripped the resource center to shreds. No quarter was given, no remorse was shown.

"Alright Wrex mission accomplished, we'll send in the cleaners to take care of the Element Zero, let's return to the ship. Shepard out," then the completely unexpected happened.

Shepard felt a small vibration in his armor's chest plate. He figured it was no big deal so he fired up his jetpack for his flight back. The vibration only became more intense as the suit transferred its power to the torsos flight stabilizers. Shepard didn't have time to see what was wrong with his armor. When he looked down at his chest all he saw was the blast of his exploding chest plate engulfing the rest of his body. Shepard fell to the ground covered in a blue flame, as if it was created by a biotic force.

"SHEPARD! NOOO!" yelled Wrex with a cry of dismay. He couldn't believe what had just happened.

Shepard's suit was destroyed, both of his ribs and his collarbone were broken. The biotic flames that covered him vanished as soon as they had appeared. He now lay on the warm desert sand, unable to move. Shepard had met thousands of biotics in his many battles, but he had never met anyone with that kind of power, who could have done such a thing? Both the immobile Shepard and the distraught Wrex stared into the smoke and dust to see who their combatant was. Not able to move his neck, Shepard could only see feet emerge from the ashes. But Wrex was not impaired, and could perfectly see the mysterious man.

"What the…" before Wrex could finish his sentence he felt a biotic field surround his massive krogan body. He was swept of his feet and thrown miles off into the distance by the powerful biotic that stood before him.

"Hahaha, it's been a long time Shepard!" mocked a surprisingly recognizable voice.

Saren Arterius had returned.

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 6.5: A Common Defect_

Rising from the dead was not an easy feat.

"Saren, how did you, how did you…" was all Shepard had the strength to muster.

"Haha, it must be pretty tough to do much of anything right now eh Shepard? Did you think you were the only one who could escape death? Well it doesn't matter what you think because three billion dollars later here I am, in the flesh, sort of. Turns out the people running the citadel these days really hate you Shepard, after all that work you went through, including killing me, to do it! It's a shame how these things work out isn't it, one day you're a hero, the next they hate you!" Saren couldn't have sounded anymore smug.

"The way I remember it Sar **cough**, you tried to destroy your people, then you killed yourself to escape the control of _Sovereign_," replied Shepard, choking down his own blood.

"HA! If you think about it Shepard isn't that what you are doing RIGHT NOW! Killing your beloved people just to prove your point? You are no worse than me, and you lived 22 years of glory and fame while I rotted in my grave! I think it's time to return the favor," Saren raised his foot and kicked the defenseless Shepard in the face several times. Shepard had begun blacking out, he wouldn't be able to stay conscious much longer.

"I know it must be hard for you to look up at me Shepard, but I want to see your weak human face before I rip the life from your body!" Saren grabbed Shepard's hair and pulled it up until their eyes met. The stare that they shared could have caused a planet to implode from its core. The sheer hatred and respect the two shared for each other was unlike any force in the galaxy.

"Never underestimate me Saren, it's been your downfall since the beginning," Shepard raised his arm of the ground as far as he could and activated his Omni-tool. Thousands of small ice particles launched from the small holographic gauntlet. Shepard had advanced his chrono-freezer to maximize its area of effect. Both Saren and Shepard slowly began feeling the thick ice crossing their bodies.

"Damn you Shepard! You would freeze me knowing that you too would fall to your chrono-freezers effects!" said Saren in disbelief

"It's called sacrifice Saren, something you wouldn't know about,"

The desert wasn't so boring anymore, the beautiful fires of a burning building painted a picture in the desert sands. Two ice statues permanently frozen in time told a story of rivalry like none at ever seen before.


	3. ACT 3

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 7: Rise and Rise Again_

He was tried, drenched, and naked.

And that was only in the first four seconds after awakening. Commander Shepard had enough sense to realize he was back on board the _Nexus Brood_, and did I mention he was naked? Shepard was very confused until he heard a very creepy yet reassuring voice.

"Ahh Shepard, you have awakened from your sleep. It looks like your motor skills are doing just fine, and there is very little scaring or bruising. You have healed very well considering you broke almost all of your ribs, your collar bone, ripped most of the tendons in your legs, and suffered from extreme hypothermia. For a Water bag you're built like a deformed runt Krogan, and that's a compliment by the way," said Romat with all four eyes still staring at Shepard, making the moment feel quite awkward.

"Alright I only have one thing to ask before I go… somewhere else, where are my clothes?" asked Shepard.

"Hmm. Your clothes had to be cut off when we were removing the ice, and also, I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but your testicals did not survive between the extreme cold and the lack of caution when using the energy saw. I'm so sorry Shepard," said the very remorseful sounding bartarian.

"OH MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL!" before Shepard yelled anymore, he reached down and was assured that he did indeed still have his reproductive parts.

"Hahaha, man I got you good! Your clothing is in your room, and Wrex is waiting for you in the briefing area,"

Shepard wasted no time in moving from the med-bay to his personal quarters on the ship. Unlike the human ships Shepard was accustomed to serving on, krogan ships leave very little room personal space, and maximize on filling it with giant weapons. Once he felt properly outfitted in his old comfortable clothing, he headed to the briefing area to find out what happened AFTER his little adventure with Saren.

"Good to see you in one piece Shepard, I swear to god you almost lost the lower half of your body when Grunt began running the saw!" said Wrex with a deep krogan laugh.

"Yeah Romat already told the castration jokes. All talk about my manhood aside, could you brief me on what happened after I froze Saren and myself?" asked Shepard.

"Sure pal. After Saren sent me flying miles away, I had to walk through that god-forsaken wasteland just to find you. I finally followed the smoke to your exact location and I noticed these awesome little ice sculptors that looked just like you and Saren. I was about to smash them into pieces when I remembered that you tend to do that tech-freezy-thingy a lot. So I called down a rescue team and brought you and that turian bastard back to the ship. We put you in the med-bay, and we put Saren in bartarian lab. Before you ask, we did do extensive study on him. It turns out the same technology that brought you back to life also brought back Saren. But he also had something… extra," said Wrex

Shepard couldn't believe anyone would want to bring back Saren, and what was this extra? "What do you mean Wrex? Did he have special implants or something?"

"Yeah you could say that. He had biotic implants the likes of which we have never seen before. Romat predicts they are almost 2,000 years more advanced than the models you have. He also had a device implanted in his frontal lobe. It seemed to be a… mind control device of some caliber, almost identical to the indoctrination powers of_ Sovereign_. But that wasn't the weirdest thing we found. There was also a device in attached to his heart, it contained to substances. The first was traces of lethal poison; the second was traces of your DNA. We had no idea what purpose these things did so we had our personal science freak Romat check them out. He only discovered that the mind implant was forcing him to kill you, and the heart implant would inject the poison into the blood stream shortly after YOUR death. Somebody was planning on taking both you and Saren out in one move,"

"That's crazy, does Saren know all of this?" asked Shepard.

"Yes, he actually freaked out when we told him about the mind implant, he said something about a "lying bastard" before we tossed him in the holding cell, I suggest you go talk to him," said Wrex before starting to walk out of the briefing area.

"Oh yes and Shepard, before you go. When Romat was fixing you up, he said he discovered something on you too. It was the parasite; you have a low strain of the parasite. Romat said it shouldn't start affecting you for a while, but you might want to sit out of the battles for a while. I'm so sorry Shepard,"

"To tell you the truth Wrex, I'm sick of people telling me that they feel sorry for me. Something has been wrong with this war since the very beginning. I think Saren might have the answers I need to get to the bottom of this,"

Shepard and Wrex began to walk in opposite directions. This would be the last time they would see each other during the war, but the bond these warriors shared would never die.

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 7.5: The Common Cause_

"So, you want me to help you take down Dregeden, the man that spent millions of dollars bringing me back to life?" asked the chained down prisoner of war Saren.

"Face it Saren, he used you! Just like the reapers did! Dregeden started this war and I want to know why. If you and I work together we can take down Dregeden and save the galaxy from thousands of unneeded deaths. This could be your only chance to redeem yourself Saren, for everything,"

"You amuse me Shepard, assuming I have regrets. The only thing I have EVER regretted is being weak enough to let others control my mind. Never again will anyone tell me what I can and can't do! If we go to the citadel, I'm going to find Dregeden and force him to slit his own neck. And after I have killed Dregeden, I'm going to beat you until your bluer than an asari, got it?"

"Sure do," said Shepard. Shepard pressed the opening hatch to Saren's cell and unlocked all the chains, "Let get you down to the weapons bay so you can pick your poison,"

It was a beautiful night on the citadel, and Garrus didn't have a care in the world. The entire galactic army had been given the weekend off in celebration of the death of the death of Commander Shepard. Garrus felt great remorse in celebrating a holiday dedicated to the death of his old partner, but he also realized that this was a great opportunity to ask Ashley out to dinner. Over the last few years Garrus had rejected the idea of him and Ashley becoming anything more than fellow soldiers, but in the last few weeks he realized that he could hardly live without her another day. He had to travel all the way to Earth to find one, but Garrus finally bought an engagement ring fitting for a human girl.

It was almost midnight, and Ashley could not take her eyes off of the attractive dinosaur-man that sat across from her. At the same time, she felt torn about Shepard's death, while he was alive she couldn't stand him, but now that he is gone forever, well, that a different story.

Ashley glared at Wrex and asked, "Do you feel wrong Garrus, celebrating the death of Shepard?"

Garrus had been waiting for this question, "Of course Ashley, he was one of my best friends, and an amazing sentinel. He was also the most righteous man I've ever met. He had everything, an outstanding military record, people that loved him, and he was a member of the citadel council, and he dropped all of that to save races that hated him! Not only did he gain the trust of his foreign soldiers, but he managed to put the citadel elites in their place too! But the greatest thing I liked about Shepard, was that without him I would have never met you Ashley," As Garrus spoke his last words he began to smile like only a turian could. Ashley turned red and began to move around in her seat. She could hardly contain the butterflies she felt in her stomach.

"Garrus… I,"

"Sshh, don't say anything. Ashley, in all respect for Shepard and everything that has happened recently I realized that we are being selfish by staying apart because of our race. I love you, and you love me, and until we both die, wither it be with blasters in our hands, or in each other's arms, I would like you to have this, and accept my request for a union. I believe on Earth they would say "Will you marry me?"" Asked Garrus while producing the ring.

"Oh Garrus, I do!" Then although their lips were never meant to be placed upon each other, the turian commander, and the human officer shared a kiss that could have eradicated all evil from the world. It only ended when Garrus received a message on his communicator.

"Sorry, I have to take this. Hmm. What the? It can't be? I can't believe I'm doing this, but I need to go home and grab my gun," As Garrus ran away from the fancy restaurant venue, Ashley looked down at his abandoned communicator.

_FROM: Shepard_

_Garrus. It was all Dregeden. I plan to end this soon. If you want to lose everything and come help me, then I trust you know what to do. If not I understand. If I never return from this mission, tell Ashley that I missed her and that I love her and even if she hates me, I only acted the way I did so that we could move on from all the fighting. _

_P.S I have the parasite and I'm dying no matter what and I'm totally going to spit in your food unless you get your butt over here and help me._

_ Your friend/enemy, _

_ Commander Shepard_

Ashley could do nothing but smile.

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 8: Dark Mass_

The Chamber was quiet.

Dregeden had just returned to his private quarters for the night, and he was exhausted. Only hours later he brought his fellow council member, the asari Vier'ia, out to a gala to celebrate the death of Shepard. Dregeden did not pursue his date any further than for dancing though, he was just happy to know that the company's plan was back on track. The turian approached his bed and prepared to lie down when he heard a noise at the door.

*CREEEEEEEK*

Dregeden yelled in surprise "What? Who's there?"

"Relax your highness it's me, Admiral Valkerian, I came to congratulate you on your defeat of Shepard. I suppose it's only a matter of time before the Rebel forces dwindle away until there is nothing left," said Garrus, curiously pacing around the chamber as if looking for something.

"Yes admiral, I thought you would take the loss of Shepard pretty rough considering your past with him, but I'm glad you see it from my point of view, that he was the instigator in a major problem. Without his leadership, those brainless excuses for sentient beings will start shooting themselves due to lack of better things to do! Now if you don't mind Valkerian I would like to sleep now, I had a long day," asked Dregeden

"Of course your highness, but would you be so kind as to answer one last question for me?" asked Garrus in return.

"What is it you wish to know?"

Garrus had to swallow down his turian pride, because if his trust in Shepard was misplaced, this next question would cause his entire military career to collapse. "Why did you start this war, the parasite was a problem that could have been dealt with overtime, but a war and separation took more lives than that stupid parasite ever could of. I never judged a decision you made since you became the supreme councilor, but now, I need answers,"

Shit. Dregeden didn't expect anyone to question his actions, but he didn't fret about this turn of events too hard. One shot from the pistol hidden under Dregeden's mattress would end the problem. The councilor slowly started to reach down from under his covers, when he realized he was staring down the barrel of a gun. Held by hands that belonged to none other than Saren.

"Hello Councilor, remember me? It hasn't been too long since you implanted me with a mind control device and deadly poisons. I decided that because you gave me such nice going away presents, and I didn't give YOU anything, that I would return the favor," said the ruthless Saren.

Dregeden was scared to no end, not because he was being aimed down by the most heartless Specter to ever live, but that Saren being alive signaled something else. "If you're alive Saren… that means…" Then Dregeden's worst fear came true.

"You know, I was kinda hoping there would be a holiday about me someday, but I never thought it would be about my death, or would I be able to celebrate such an event. Now I know we were co-works in all, but I really won't feel any remorse about letting Saren shoot you, sorry," Shepard then gave Saren the get-it-done nod. Before Saren pulled the trigger he noticed movement in the room. Garrus was now pointing his SMG at Saren. This prompted Shepard to point HIS Omi-tool towards Garrus. Dregeden took advantage of the pause to pull out his concealed weapon and point it at Shepard.

Dregeden could only laugh "Ha looks like you really can't trust your own friends these days huh."

Shepard gave an intense glare to Garrus, feeling betrayed by his old turian comrade. Garrus didn't feel anything as he prepared his next statement.

"Sorry Dregeden," Garrus lowered his pistol until he saw Dregeden's nostrils right in-between his targeting sights. "But I just couldn't let them kill you until we had some answers,"

"I WONT SAY ANYTHING!" yelled Dregeden. Saren gave a disgusted look and beat the back of Dregeden's skull with his pistol.

"Okay," said the now throbbing turian councilor, "I was only doing what my masters commanded of me. I can't refuse them, or I die…II *ah cough*," Dregeden started to turn a sickly pink color, and then he dropped his head to the near-by pillow. Saren kept shaking Dregeden to try to awaken him, but Shepard knew it was no use.

"He was poisoned by the same people that would have poisoned Saren, and the people that created the parasite that started this war. All of the answers now lie in "the company","


	4. Chapter 9: End draws near

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 9: Save the Queen_

It was finally coming together.

Yet it was far from over. Commander Shepard was running out of time to save the galaxy from its greatest threat, itself. Due to the excessive bragging of the now dead Dregeden, the entire galaxy thought Shepard was dead (for the second time now). According to Garrus, the intergalactic army was now only days away from a full-scale assault on the rebel capital planet, Tuchanka. Not only would the battle on Tuchanka be a massacre, but all of the survivors would die shortly after due to the increasingly deadly parasite. Shepard knew that the company, a completely unknown entity that seems to have been running this war from the beginning, was going to be impossible to find. There was three known pieces of company technology, Saren and Dregeden's implants, and the parasite canisters. Shepard knew only one person, or should I say thing, in the galaxy that could possible trace the manufacturing of these objects. The Normandy's personal AI system, EDI. The largest problem was that the Normandy has been held in a Citadel hangar guarded by at least 30 men for the last two decades.

"Okay Shepard, this plan should work well enough as long as EVERYONE follows orders," said Garrus, who then gave a long stare at Saren.

"Hey Valkerian, don't forget that you have been fighting on the opposite side of this war the entire time," replied Saren, forgetting that he too originally helped Dregeden.

Shepard was driving the large flying SUV as they were headed to Hanger 135 to recover the Normandy. Usually three ex-soldiers wouldn't get caught dead driving around the citadel in an SUV, but it was the only vehicle that Garrus could attach two gattaling guns and a grenade launcher and make it look unnoticeable.

Shepard began turning the steering wheel sharply as they approached a large steel hangar door. "Alright guys, into positions," After clicking a few buttons quick, the top of the SUV shot off and the three turrets jumped into place. Shepard took point on the Grenade launcher and aimed down the hangar door. He launched multiple vollies of flaming grenades at the door until it burst open with leaving nothing left where it once stood. He gave the gas pedal a quick shove which propelled it into the hangar. The large explosion instantly caught the attention of the guards and they prepared their guns.

"Get ready!" yelled Shepard. A small firefight ensued, but a few rusty, underpaid guards didn't stand a chance against an armored SUV with three elite warriors manning high-powered weapons. There wasn't a single survivor on the other side (Saren made sure of that).

"Okay let's get on that ship and get going," said Shepard. After parking the SUV Shepard walked to the Normandy's airlock and froze.

"What's up Shepard?" asked Garrus.

Shepard dropped his head and replied, "It's just been so long since I've seen this ship. So much happened aboard the Normandy, an entire life I've left behind until now. Now the adventures continue," Shepard didn't speak with any enthusiasm, which worried Garrus, but before Garrus could speak Saren spoke his mind.

"Look Shepard, we don't even have to take the Normandy, we just need that AI that you spoke about so highly… then we can just jack some other ship,"

Shepard had one of the quickest replies Garrus had ever heard, "No. I don't trust any ship more than the Normandy, if we do anything; it's going to be aboard this ship,"

Everything had now come into place, Shepard had finally returned to his personal quarters for the first time in 20 years. He asked Saren and Garrus if he could be alone as he took the elevator to the space that he called home for the most defining part of his life. He sprawled out on his old bed and spoke words he never thought he would say again, "EDI, status report!"

"Welcome back Shepard, it has been awhile, but I was expecting your return to the Normandy," said the robotic, yet female voice of EDI.

"You were expecting me EDI? How is that?" asked the confused Shepard.

"The Normandy had a visitor the other day, he said you would come, he told me why you would come… I'm sorry it has come to this Shepard, goodbye" said EDI. Shepard sat up in his bed, wondering what was going on. When he looked up he saw EDI's terminal short-circuiting. He watched as spurts of electricity shot across the room, swiftly moving to Shepard's bed, which unfortunately had electrical functions. He knew he only had moments to act.

"Shields on!" yelled Shepard, prompting his Omni-tool to activate. One large explosion and a concussion later, Shepard woke up outside the now burning Normandy.

Garrus stood over him and said, "Well that was a close call; I guess I never expected EDI to do that,"

Saren reached out a hand to help Shepard off the ground, "Ha, at least _Sovereign _never blew up in my face,"

"EDI never would have done that on her own, she said somebody had visited the Normandy, I'm guessing that someone knew we were coming, and rigged the ship. Because they were able to get past the guards with no problems, I'm assuming they worked for the company… speaking of them, we will never find them now that EDI is gone," said the dismayed Shepard.

"Actually Shepard, I have a confession," said Saren, "I was given a special biotic implant that could trace the biotic signature of a life form if I had a source to base it off of. Kind of like a drug dog sniffing out the drugs. If the person that rigged the Normandy did work for the company, and he was a biotic, I can find him by following his dark matter trail through the galaxy. That's how I found you,"

Garrus looked like he was about to become angry, but his anger quickly became fascination as he thought of Saren's plan.

"Sounds good, let's get this guy's scent and find a ship!"

Minutes later Saren had discovered a small biotic signature on the Normandy's remains. That signature matched that of a prothean.


	5. Endings and Origins

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 10: Drop the World_

Thank god for Mass Relays.

Without them, Shepard never would have been able to move a fully-loaded SUV across the galaxy. Using the amazing tech abilities he learned in the Sentinels (and logging many hours of Space Fantasy Online with Moridin) he was able to hack the GPS of his crew's new ride. Nobody on this three man squad quite knew where they were going; Saren was simply uploading his biotic tracer into the navigational systems coordinates, but the commander had little faith in this plan, because they were supposedly following a Prothean. The reapers destroyed the entire prothean population, leaving no survivors.

"Excuse me, Commander stare-off-into-space, but we are approaching a planet here soon," snarled Saren, who still felt an intense rivalry towards Shepard, despite their recent team-up.

"Uhh, damn. Where are we? God I miss EDI," said Shepard, snapping back to reality.

Garrus had learned the galaxy well after serving as a fleet admiral, "I believe that this is what you humans would call Saturn,"

Shepard was astounded that he could not remember his home nebula, "Wow, it's been so long since I've been this close to Earth, I can't hardly recognize where I'm at," there was disbelieve and a little sadness in Shepard's voice. _How could humanity have drifted so far? _He thought.

"Wait, I thought Saturn was an all Gas planet, why in the name of the gods would the company be here?" asked the skeptical Saren.

Shepard thought of his hypothesis for a moment before answering, "Where better for somebody who doesn't want to be found, than hide in a place that will never be looked? If Saturn is all gas, and say we ARE dealing with someone as smart as protheans, they could have established a sky base there and have been living in secret all this time,"

"Well, we may not find out," said Garrus, "This mid-sized, economical, war-van was not outfitted to survive the Saturn storm we are about to hit… BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

Shepard gripped his seat as tight as could be, but he wasn't worried about dying. Once you've done it twice, it isn't scary anymore. A large, dusty wind took the SUV with it on its path. Hopefully on the path to the company.

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 10.5: Full Circle_

At first dropping on land seemed like a blessing, until Shepard looked around.

After the storm swept away his ride, he felt nothing but heavy vibrations, and a piece of metal that had gotten way to close to his crotch. This was not the first time that he passed out and woke up friendless and surrounded by enemies. Each and every single foe around him was an extremely muscular looking turian, all with the same exact face. Each doppelganger reached for his weapon slowly, as if giving Shepard time to get his own. But Shepard didn't need a weapon.

_He never expected all this shit. _

_A man: tall, fair skinned, wearing a black and dark-green battle suit ran into the many explosions of war. Grenades flew to his right side, so with amazing panic, he dropped to the floor and prepared for the worst. Unfortunately, death escaped him once more as he felt only a slight shock wave cross his body. As he stood up, he raised his arm to his closest nearby enemy. The turian he was facing down simply began to laugh at the sight of his human opponent forming a false gun with his hand. The laughter turned to confusion when the human pointed his imaginary gun straight at the turian's torso. _

"_BOOM" said the human with confidence, and then with a sudden jolt, the turian felt a cold icy spear hit his chest. The human was simply playing with his opponents, shooting them with his cryo-freezer located in his Omni-tool. _

_With a now completely frozen turian standing before him, the human turned to view the rest of the battle field. He had genetically heightened eye sight due to his training as an army sentinel. This eye sight would only do him good one more time during this battle, because in the distance he saw only one thing, the barrel of a sniper staring him down. He did not feel, hear, or see anything after that. He could only fall to the ground knowing he was shot. Finally his time had come. Finally he and death would have their last battle._

Mass Effect: The Civil War

_Chapter 11: Of Mice and Men_

A third time it happened, and he was getting sick of it!

Shepard awoke, unarmored, and tied to his companions (whom he was glad to see were alive) Garrus and Saren.

_Greetings Shepard, we knew you would be coming, we knew you would not stop until you found us. It was only a matter of time. _

Most people would freak out and ask "What the hell is going on!" if they heard random voices in their head while sitting half-naked in a dark room. But Shepard knew that most likely it was the company, communicating with them telepathically.

"I'm assuming I'm talking to the company? You guys have created a lot of shit in the galaxy recently, and I've had to clean it up," Garrus gave a small grunt, "WE had to clean it up, I suggest you show yourselves so I know whose asses' we're about to kick!" yelled Shepard

_Your threats will not work on us Shepard. We will reveal ourselves in time. But to put your simple human mind at ease, I will answer your greatest question. Yes, we are the TRUE remaining protheans. Better than trying to explain how the company came to be with words, we will show you with our conduit technology, you of all people should be familiar with it._

Shepard's eyes instantly rolled to the back of his head, followed immediately by Garrus and Saren's. Soon they slipped into a deep subconscious state, yet somehow they could still feel their brains at work. It was like a dream come to life. The only problem is that it wasn't their dream, but somebody else's nightmare. Images of protheans being slaughtered by the machine-like reapers filled Shepard's mind. Then, like a slideshow, it showed prothean pilgrims boarding a ship. Shepard could not see emotion on the protheans' faces but instead he could FEEL their reluctance and fear. They were in Exodus of the reapers. The traveled all across the Universe until they found one certain solar system. The Milky Way. The feeling of fear turned to a feeling of pleasantness, not happiness, but the closed thing they could get considering all of their friends and family had just been killed or enslaved. They first tried settling down on Mars, but their new neighbors, the humans, were getting nosey, and started sending probes to the red planet. The protheans used their great inventive powers to create a flying village on the gas planet Saturn, that way, nobody would discover them.

The emotions and pictures in Shepard's head then took a complete change in direction. The feelings of emptiness and exodus soon turned… industrial. The protheans turned the sky village into a sky fortress; they soon began to create new inventions, like they did back on their old home world. But now things were different. They didn't build things that made life easier, they made weapons of war. Wrath and destruction filled Shepard's subconscious brain. The company built guns, bombs, and even genetically enhanced soldiers straight from the tube. After a while they distributed the weapons and soldiers to different warring factions across the galaxy. Anonymously of course, they wouldn't want anyone to know who was secretly turning the tides of war everywhere. The company used advanced weapons to turn wars in their favor, but they also created sentient beings with the correct genetic traits to assume leadership of the galaxy for them. Dregeden was one of the many politicians created by the company, designed to make sure everything went according to their plan. With one final flash of red light, the mental connection between Shepard's crew and the protheans ended.

"Wow, I thought I saw some messed up shit when I worked with _Sovereign, _but that took things to a new level," said Saren

Garrus and Shepard were speechless. How could all of this have been going on behind the universes back?

_Ah, more questions fill your head Shepard. But alas, the time for talking has ended; the time for action has come. Look before you now Shepard and see your masters!_

Light filled the room for the first time. But now Shepard wished it hadn't. Garrus dropped his turian jaw as he looked at the monstrosities in the front of the cold, jail-cell like room. Large robotic gargoyles made of wire and iridium looked upon them with visor like eyes. The large blue brains sticking out of the robots heads were the only thing that remained of the original protheans. (For a mental image of what they look like, think METROID mixed with deformed giant TERMINATORS)

_Yes, we have lost our physical forms, but that does not mean our goals have changed._

Shepard broke the bonds of surprise and managed to speak, "What goals? All I have seen so far is pointless mass destruction!"

_Shepard, your accusations are accepted, but could not be farther from the truth. We protheans can see things that a human, asari, or turian could never see. For the company has an even deeper secret yet. _

"And what would that be?" asked Shepard

_Although you lesser beings discovered how to use the Mass Relays, we have gotten a step further with our dark matter research. Using a more powerful form of the relay, we can transcend not only gravity, but the laws of time. We cannot travel back and forth through it by will, but we can see the many different paths for the future… that is why we work so hard to tilt the odds in the favor of the factions as we see fit. Only we know the future that is best for everyone._

"Time vision, Shepard, this is a discovery that changes everything!" said a now excited Garrus.

Shepard didn't share his partner's enthusiasm "You say that you are looking for the best future for everyone, then why did you start the civil war? Why go through all that death?"

_In truth Shepard, the war is your fault. Many years ago we had set forth a future that we saw acceptable. And you weren't in it. You were supposed to be killed by the man you are now tied to, Saren. He was supposed to kill you and Nihlus at the same time, thus wiping out all opposition against the Reaper invasion. _

"Wait, time out metal freaks, you wanted the Reapers to come? How would THAT benefit the future?"

_BECAUSE! Current sentient life is a joke. War is all you know. The rule of a different generation would be the greatest benefit for the galaxy. Yet you always destroyed our plans. You escaped our attempts at killing you multiple times, and you have completely changed the timeline that we have made. This time you will die Shepard, and nobody will remain who knows our existence!_

"Shit, that doesn't sound good on my end," said Saren.

Shepard cracked a smile, "Alright protheans, you want to put me down for good, have fu n trying! Garrus now!" Instantly, the plan that Shepard and Garrus had been secretly conspiring happened. Garrus used the wire-cutter he kept hidden on his person to slowly rip through the metallic chains that bonded them. Everyone but Saren, who had trouble keeping up with the action, went into battle positions.

"Take this you hollow cock-sucker!" yelled Shepard as he launched a frag grenade at the hollow cock-suckers. The explosion directly hit one of the five protheans gargoyles, sending shrapnel into its oversized brain. Garrus covered Shepard's back and used his incendiary ammo on the robots weak points. Two more protheans went ablaze as the fiery bullets impacted their gas lines. Only two protheans remained the leader that had been speaking this entire time, and a small gargoyle that stood on the leftmost side of the room. Shepard was getting a massive adrenaline rush, the thought of almost taking down the protheans filled his mind with excitement that he couldn't hold in.

"ROARRR!" Shepard's krogan battle cry did absolutely nothing to his stoic, immovable opponents. Garrus and Saren both averted their attentions to Shepard when he had his outburst. This was a large mistake. A large caliber gun turret emerged from the small gargoyles chest, and within seconds, he blasted Garrus' body to several tiny pieces.

"NOOOO!" yelled Shepard.

Shepard had enough anger to fuel a sun, but Saren not only had the anger to fuel a sun, but he planned to use it too.

"That's the last turian you will ever shoot you unworthy excuse for a life form!" Saren's eyes turned a bright, burning blue. Biotic power encased his body, everyone around him felt the massive amount of energy he was about to unleash. Saren twisted his arm towards the small gargoyle and launched everything he had. The gargoyle was instantly warped into a billion pieces, and those pieces then came together to create an ash ball, which ignited into biotic flames. Shepard was extremely impressed with the attack, but he didn't like the result, for after the attack, Saren fell to the floor. Shepard could see Saren's form go from being a large proud turian into what resembled a shed of snake-skin.

_Strange, he gave his own life in revenge of someone that was formerly his enemy. It makes no sense._

Shepard looked at the now dead Saren, then he started to chuckle.

_You laugh at your dead companions Shepard? You truly are a fool. Because now you are alone, against ME!_

"You protheans think you have everything figured out, but that is so far from the truth. What Saren did was called sacrifice, something you and your metal body wouldn't know about,"

_The company is all sacrifice Shepard. And now, you will be the final sacrifice… with your death will come the ultimate peace. Goodbye Shepard._

Now finally, Shepard just stood still. He didn't use a tech shield to save himself, he didn't freeze his opponent, and he didn't draw his weapon. He just stood and watched as a turret from a mechanical chest pointed his direction. He stood and waited and spoke.

"A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee,"

_Praying can't save you now._

Shepard kneeled before the gargoyle. He pulled the vibroblade from his belt and stuck it in his chest, and moved it from right to left, thus ending his own life right in front of his opponent.

_Fool, thinking he can give himself an honorable death. But never mind his sorrows, now is the time of the company…_

Many of you may be thinking, how could this be the end? But in truth, the story never ends. This was but one chapter of a story that has no start or beginning.

(p.s there will be a direct sequel to this story, and it is featuring the one and only solider girl, Ashley Williams)


End file.
